News Releases

New Lander Review Hits the Streets

October 31, 2011

Hannah Wells, left, a senior visual arts major from Laurens, who designed the cover for the newest Lander Review, poses with staff members Ashley Walters, a senior English education major from Hartsville, who served as literary curator; James Neff, a senior visual arts major from Spartanburg, who served as both designer and art curator; and Melissa Humphries, a senior visual arts major from Greenwood, who served as editor.

The 2010-2011 Lander Review is out, the result of a decision to publish the magazine of student artwork and literature in the fall rather than the spring.

Getting in touch with contributors during the summer was frequently challenging, according to editor Melissa Humphries, a senior visual arts major from Greenwood. Humphries' persistence paid off, however, and, as she puts it, "everything did come together."

One reason it came together, she said, was the long hours put in by designer and art curator James Neff, a senior graphic design emphasis visual arts major from Spartanburg. Humphries, who said that Neff "probably spent just as much time on the magazine as I did," added, "I couldn't have done this without Jamie."

While she is "pleased with the entire publication," Humphries especially likes the cover, created by senior graphic design emphasis visual arts major Hannah Wells of Laurens. Wells' cover depicts the big red "R" — which has come to be associated with the Review — covered by cicadas. Humphries said the design, inspired by the horde of cicadas that descended upon the area this year, "really sets us in time."

The strength of the magazine, in the view of assistant professor of art Jon Holloway, who served as faculty coordinator for artwork, is its variety. Holloway believes that "the diversity of the work is very compelling."

The decision to publish the magazine in the fall was made by Humphries, Holloway, former assistant editor Gene Ellenberg and assistant professor of art Jim Slagle, who hoped the change would encourage more students, especially freshmen and transfers, to submit.

Humphries believes the change will pay dividends. "It lets the new students have a better idea of what's going on," she said.

Another change for the 2010-2011 Review — requiring students contributing art to participate in the student art show in the spring — may have caused the total number of submissions to decline from last year. Humphries believes that students will be more mindful of this requirement in the future, and that "there will be much higher participation next year."

The payoff for participating, said Slagle, is that students learn valuable lessons in how to market themselves. In Slagle's view, "it's all about learning how to get your work out there."